Blockades caused loss for Pro-North, Lakehead Freightways spared set-backs.

• Author: McDougall, Douglas
• Position: Pro-North Transportation System

Blockades caused loss for Pro-North, Lakehead Freightways spared set-backs

Northern Ontario trucking industry officials report varying levels of disruption as a result of the recent independent truckers blockades.

The truckers blockades may have resulted in adverse effects to trucking companies in southern Ontario, but some representatives in the north say that because the May blockades were set up primarily at southern border crossings, little effect could be noted to their individual freight businesses.

Don Wadelle, highway dispatcher for Lakehead Freightways Limited in Thunder Bay, explained that his company's trucks enter the United States at crossings such as Pigeon River and International Falls. These areas, he said, were too insignificant for blockades. As a result, his company, which operates out of both Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, was spared any set-backs associated with the halt in transportation.

"Northern Ontario seemed to be isolated from the affair. I don't think I could name one company that was affected," he said.

However, Pro-North Transportation System of North Bay lost one week of business from the calendar, according to company operations manager Brent Byers.

"We have had to cram two weeks work into one," he said.

Byers estimated that it would take "at least a month to recover from the backlog."

Many of the paper-transport firm's 60 trucks were halted in places such as Lacolle, Que. and Fort Erie, Ont.

Although unable to say how much money Pro-North lost, Byers said the effects of having to fulfil two weeks worth of contracts in one week and having to compensate employees even though the trucks were not moving, left the company with little way of making it up.

"I doubt we will ever recover the financial loss," said Byers.

Don Campbell, terminal manager for Kingsway Transport Limited's Sudbury operation, said the blockades halted all of the company's shipments at Quebec and U.S. borders.

Campbell said Kingsway managed to skirt any substantial problems for customers by shipping by rail.

"We were forced to put all our trailers on trains," he recalled.

It was the necessity of having to ship by rail, rather than by tractor trailer, which added to the firm's costs.

"It was very costly for us to have to use rail," he explained.

BLOCKADE

The protest by independent operators which started in Quebec on Victoria Day and then spread to Ontario the day after, virtually stalled traffic at several major border crossings...